The new Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Mohammed Buba Marwa, has said that the agency would soon propose compulsory drug tests for government appointees, security agents, students of tertiary institutions, and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, among others.
Marwa, who stated this during a meeting with NDLEA commanders across the 36 states and special commands at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, said the agency would go all out against illegal drug users in the country.
He ordered the state commanders of the NDLEA to mop up illicit drugs across the country.
Marwa said: “Our maxim will be offensive action. This means we must go all out constantly on the offensive against the bad guys.
“The success we make of this particular task goes a long way to determine the socio-economic stability of the nation. We need not be told of the nexus between drug use, crime, and criminalities.
“The exponential growth of the nefarious drug activities can be directly linked to the upsurge in crimes such as insurgency, terrorism, kidnapping, cultism, political thuggery, gangsterism, rape, and other malfeasance bedeviling today’s Nigeria.
“We (NDLEA) would soon propose to the government the necessity for drug tests for all tertiary institutions’ students, NYSC members, new workers, all security agencies’ new recruits and random tests for government appointees.”
President Muhammed Buhari appointed Marwa as NDLEA chief on January 17.
